Petrol, diesel touch all time highs as oil companies hike rates

New Delhi: Petrol price on Sunday touched a record high of INR 76.24 per litre and diesel climbed to its highest ever level of INR 67.57 as the oil PSUs passed on four weeks of relentless rise in international oil prices to consumers.

Petrol and diesel prices in Delhi today reached a record high.

Petrol price on Sunday increased by 33 paisa a litre in India’s capital city Delhi — the highest since the daily price revision came into force in mid-June 2017, and diesel by 26 paisa, according to price notification issued by state-owned oil firms

Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT. Prices in Delhi are the cheapest in all metros and most state capitals

With this increase, petrol has touched an all time-high, breaching the previous high of INR 76.06 touched in Delhi on September 14, 2013. Diesel rates are also at the all-time high level

This is the seventh straight day of price increase since oil PSUs on May 14 resumed daily price revision after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus. In all, petrol price has been raised by INR 1.61 a litre and diesel by 1.64 in last one week

In India, petrol is the costliest in Mumbai where high local taxes has led a price of INR 84.07 per litre. Petrol has breached INR 80 mark in Bhopal (INR 81.83 a litre), Patna (INR 81.73), Hyderabad (INR 80.76) and Srinagar (INR 80.35), according to the price notification

Petrol in Kolkatta costs INR 78.91 per litre while it is priced at INR 79.13 in Chennai

The cheapest petrol is available in Panjim where a litre comes for INR 70.26

Diesel is the costliest in Hyderabad were it is priced at INR 73.45 a litre due to high local taxes. It is priced at INR 73.34 in Trivandrum. Other cities where diesel rates have crossed INR 70 mark are Raipur (INR 72.96 a litre), Gandhinagar (INR 72.63), Bhubhaneswar (INR 72.43), Patna (INR 72.24), Jaipur (INR 71.97), Ranchi (INR 71.35), Bhopal (INR 71.12) and Srinagar (INR 70.96)

A litre of diesel costs INR 71.94 in Mumbai, INR 70.12 in Kolkatta and INR 71.32 in Chennai, the notification said

Diesel is the cheapest in Port Blair where it is priced at INR 63.35

On Friday, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg refused to say if the government will cut excise duty on auto fuel to ease the burden on consumers

The government is watching the situation developing from oil prices hitting USD 80 a barrel — the highest since November 2014, and adequate steps will be taken, is all he said said without elaborating

Asked if the government would cut excise duty on petrol and diesel, he had stated that he has nothing to say on that front. “Just watch.”

The BJP-led government had raised excise duty nine times — totalling INR 11.77 per litre on petrol and INR 13.47 on diesel — between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by INR 2 a litre

No sooner had Karnataka polled to elect a new state government, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) on Monday ended a hiatus in revising petrol and diesel prices that began on April 25 and reverted to the 11-month old practices of changing rates on a daily basis

Oil PSUs are estimated to have lost about INR 500 crore on absorbing higher cost resulting from the spike in international oil rates and fall in rupee against the US dollar during the nearly three week hiatus

The benchmark international rate for petrol, used for revising rate on April 24, had gone up from USD 78.84 per barrel to USD 84.97 on May 14. It has further risen to USD 84.97, indicating more daily hikes would be needed to level retail price with cost

Similarly, benchmark international diesel rates during this period have climbed from USD 84.68 per barrel to USD 90.28 pr barrel. Also, the rupee has weakened to INR 67.27 per US dollar from INR 66.62, making imports costlier.